If the trees still had as much foliage then as they do now, they would die. All those leaves would evaporate away the moisture in the tree, with not enough in the ground to replace it. But trees are smart: as the rainfall diminishes they start to drop off leaves. If the summer drought hits hard they might even drop them all before autumn starts. So they survive.

I wish humans were as smart. We have had an unprecedented explosion of growth in recent times and our ‘foliage’ is rich. But now we have reached the point where the Earth can no longer supply us with enough resources for our needs. We need to reduce our consumption to keep in balance with supply, like the trees. But we are not.

We need to live like a tree.